Alexander Clark silverware ad, The Sphinx 1905
American University in Cairo, Rare Books and Special Collections Library. The Sphinx. RBSCL believes this item is in the public domain.
The pattern
This still is filed under Mail-order catalog.
Define
A catalog that is the store: browse, choose, order, without a clerk and often without a website.
Mechanism
Assortment as argument. Density, numbering, and an order path do the closing. The book is the funnel.
Verdict
We have a range, remote buyers, and a way to take the order on the same object.
Why it works
The top half of the page is a small catalogue: carving sets, spoons, vases, candlesticks and a butter cooler, each drawn in detail with a stock number and a price. The reader can choose and order from the page itself, and the Welbeck line carries a plain promise that it wears like solid silver for 30 years. A named sole agent in Cairo and catalogues post free close the gap between a London maker and a buyer in Egypt.
The big idea
A London and Sheffield silversmith lays its range out on the page, every piece drawn, numbered and priced, so a buyer in Egypt can choose without seeing a showroom.
The offer
Numbered, priced pieces from carving sets and tea spoons to vases, candlesticks, an egg stand and a butter cooler, through sole agent John B. Caffari in Cairo and Alexandria. Catalogues post free.
The proof
A guarantee that Welbeck plate wears like solid silver for 30 years, detailed drawings of each piece, and the maker's addresses in London and Sheffield.
Lines from the ad
The Alexander Clark Manufacturing CompanyIs guaranted to wear like solid silver for a period of 30 years.CATALOGUES POST FREE.Steal this when
Use it when you sell a range of physical goods to remote buyers and can print the items, numbers and prices so the ad works as an order form.
If this library is useful, leave an email
We send new patterns, ads, and notes when we add them. Name and phone are optional.
You are on the list
We will write when we add more library material.